


Company in Solitude

by Crowgirl



Series: On the Strength of the Evidence [49]
Category: Grantchester (TV)
Genre: Canon Era, Established Relationship, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Not Beta Read, Quintuple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 07:27:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13266594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crowgirl/pseuds/Crowgirl
Summary: For the Twelvetide Drabbles 2017 prompt:quiet.





	Company in Solitude

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elizajane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elizajane/gifts).



Geordie slips into the back row of pews just as Sidney is finishing his sermon; Sidney catches the movement and glances up the aisle. He nods, very slightly, and Geordie takes the smile that isn’t there as read.

The church is sparsely filled: old men and women, one or two younger women with children, one other single man sitting in the front. Sidney doesn’t have to speak loudly to be heard through the whole room; his voice rings back off the bare wooden walls.

Silence falls for a moment as Sidney stops speaking and then there’s rustling, coughing, the predictable sounds of people getting up and moving around. Geordie stays where he is, watching Sidney talk to those who come up to him. Somehow, Sidney manages to greet almost everyone in the church without making it look as though he’s working his way around the room to do just that. 

One of the old women takes his hands and looks up at him as she speaks, clearly saying something emphatic. Sidney smiles at her, squeezes her hands, and nods, and she turns away, nodding to herself and pulling her shawl up over her head. 

A woman with a young child at either hand is the last to leave, waiting by the door to speak to Sidney. Geordie can just catch the low burr of her voice, none of the words, but Sidney is nodding and says something in return that ends with ‘...by tomorrow. Around teatime?’

The woman nods again and goes out; Sidney closes and locks the door with a barely audible sigh of relief and Geordie gets up. ‘What’s happening tomorrow around teatime?’

Sidney puts his back to the door and looks at him for a long moment. ‘You and I are going to try to get that woman to Glasgow.’

‘Glasgow?’

‘Her husband’s threatening to kill one of her children; he doesn’t think it’s his.’ Sidney blows out a long breath and rubs his face. His voice is muffled by his palms: ‘Brennan really should have warned me properly about this parish. He made it sound like a doddle.’

Geordie’s still blinking a little over his sudden co-option into a relocation plan but he can’t see anything else Sidney could have said; it’s his job to help if he can and, at the minute, it’s Geordie’s job to help him. He’ll have to think if there’s anyone he knows in the Glasgow police. ‘I’ll fill up the car tonight, then.’ He steps out from behind the pew and comes close enough to Sidney to see the lines of tension around his mouth and eyes, the tightness in his shoulders. Geordie puts his hands on Sidney’s shoulders, squeezes at the tight muscle there, then runs his hands down Sidney’s arms and weaves their fingers together. ‘Let me take you home. We’ll work it out there.’

Sidney looks at him for a long minute and nods slowly, then wraps his arms around Geordie’s shoulders and pulls him into an embrace; Geordie goes willingly, pressing his cheek against Sidney’s shoulder. ‘I’m glad you came with me.’ 


End file.
